Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-12-13-Speech-3-359"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001213.15.3-359"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I should like to thank Mrs Patrie for her excellent report on this Commission communication on the complex subject of the precautionary principle.
There is a crisis of public confidence in science, which is now recognised as not being infallible, and there is also a crisis of public confidence in political decision-makers, who are suspected of connivance with certain industrial and commercial pressure groups or simply of culpable irresponsibility.
We must ensure that this report echoes public demands for a high level of protection for health and the environment. Essentially, use of the precautionary principle can be seen as a risk management strategy in the face of scientific uncertainty or a tool to allow the involvement of the public decision-making authority in managing scientific uncertainty. Scientists evaluate the risk and the political decision-makers manage the risk.
Clarifying who should do what is an essential prerequisite for restoring the necessary public confidence in both the scientific community and public decision-makers – us politicians. There is a legitimate role also for peer-reviewed minority scientific opinions. After all, let us remind ourselves that BSE was brought to public attention through a minority report.
There is a legitimate concern felt by public opinion which has become extremely sensitive to such matters as a result of the recent food scandals and particularly the BSE crisis. The public no longer wants to bear the brunt of hazardous technological innovations which several or many years later prove to have entailed unnecessary risk to public health or the environment. They will not accept that there should be any doubt whatsoever but that the materials used to make their children's toys are completely harmless, for example.
As long ago as 1996 the European Parliament came out in favour of a ban on the use of meat-and-bone meal throughout the European Union in accordance with the precautionary principle – if only. The rest is history.
The way to restore consumers' confidence in industry generally is to adopt clear and precise rules in the light of the precautionary principle. In all cases measures must be taken, must be regularly reviewed in the light of scientific developments. There should be an absolute requirement for transparency in all cases involving regular provision of information to the public, including when a project or activity has been given the green light.
We need to see clearer guidelines on the application of the principle. It should be used where there are reasonable grounds for concern. Precaution does not equal prevention, nor should the precautionary principle be invoked as a technical trade barrier."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples